Terabit HDD recording goal of new Toshiba bit patterning

(September 16, 2010) — At DISKCON 2010 (9/9/-9/10, Santa Clara, CA), Toshiba Corporation presented details behind its use of bit-patterned media (BPM) to fabricate a hard disk with an areal density of 2.5 terabits per-square-inch and a practical servo pattern. According to the company, BPM technology is a leading candidate to achieve terabit-class high density HDD recording, which could result in 25 terabytes (TB) of data on one 3.5" drive. The company anticipates practical application of BPM technology around 2013. 

Figure. In this scanning electron microscope (SEM) image, the microstructure of the self-assembled bit-patterned media (BPM) is visible. An etching mask enabled Toshiba to lay down the dots in a servo pattern, shown in the enlarged area, readable by a hard drive. Each dot — a single magnetic grain 17nm in size — is one bit. SOURCE: Toshiba Corp.

In a podcast interview with Debra Vogler, senior technical editor, Akira Kikitsu, laboratory leader in the Storage Materials & Devices Laboratory at Toshiba, discusses the block co-polymers (PDMS and PS) used to accomplish BPM self-assembly, and describes the nanoimprint process that was used to fabricate the hard disk.   

Podcast, "Block co-polymers lead Toshiba to self-assembled BPM": Download or Play Now

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